At her funeral, her friends came together to give Hillier a yearbook-style send-off, writing handwritten notes on her coffin like the ones she would've been given in her regular yearbook.

Mashable reports that Hillier had been waiting for years to receive a stem cell transplant as a cancer treatment. In July she found out there were multiple donors, but since there was a hospital bed shortage across Canada, she was placed on a waiting list...even with a donor match.

Using chemotherapy to keep her cancer in remission, Hillier finally received a hospital bed in August 2015 and underwent surgery, but her cancer came back in November.

Because of medical complications, her trip to California's City of Hope hospital on January 18 , where she was to receive more treatment, had to be postponed. Hillier died later that week.

Hillier's funeral was held on January 30. Donations in Laura's name can be made to Coast to Coast, a charity aimed at fighting childhood cancer.